North Texas students to take SAT Saturday as college admissions requirements continue to change

Saturday is a big day for college-bound students across North Texas.

It is the national testing day for the SAT. It’s the standardized test that used to be the norm for college admissions, was put largely on pause during the pandemic and is now making a comeback.

The SAT and ACT is now being required by some colleges and universities in the admissions process once again for the first time before the pandemic. Some schools are even accepting Advanced Placement, or AP, test scores on applications.

It's part of a nationwide debate among high-learning institutions over how they choose who to join their campus.

"Well, it's been a roller coaster for a number of years. Even pre-COVID, there were continuing to be shifts in college requirements,” said David Dillard, CEO of KD College Prep, which helps students across North Texas prepare for applications and planning for college.

Test requirements were pretty much the norm before 2020 but the pandemic forced colleges to drop those rules because students couldn't even access testing sites because of COVID-19.

"During COVID there was a massive tidal wave moving to test optional because kids couldn't have access to test sites as there were surges in different communities. Colleges benefited from that in larger numbers of applicants, which made the schools look more selective. So many of them were very happy with that environment," said Dillard. "But post-COVID, they started having to deal with that one less data point to try to evaluate students and make decisions. And especially for the colleges that had more selective majors and more technical degrees that provided challenges. And so we saw a lot of colleges that were beginning to rethink that." 

Four years later, those rules and requirements are being adjusted again – as schools have since taken another look at how they're admitting students.

“Testing has always had its detractors saying that the test was biased and the test was favoring more affluent families. There are natural inequities in any factor that you consider,” Dillard said. “One of the things that we saw coming out of COVID was schools that no longer were going to have that test data point to consider – they were then relying more heavily on the other data points like grades, course selection and activities. But grades were taking up a hit during COVID because of grade inflation and because of disruption in the school environment. And so they couldn't count on those data points as well as they had in the past. That's why it has been in flux.”

Schools that are now considered "Test Required" include Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown University, Georgia Tech University, and Purdue University. In just the last month, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown have joined that list.

Some schools are choosing to be "Test Required" for specific situations like majors, honors programs, or for merit-based scholarships.

Other schools are choosing to be "Test Preferred" including Ohio State University, Auburn University, University of South Florida and Wheaton College.

However, most schools out there are still “Test Optional” – meaning you can take the test your score won't count against you.

That includes local schools like Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University, University of North Texas, UT Arlington, Texas Women’s University and UT Dallas.

Others are reviewing policies for next year now and are likely to announce soon. For example, University of Pennsylvania announced this week that they would remain Test Optional for 2024-2025 but did not commit beyond next year.

Experts at KD College Prep across DFW are warning students to be prepared for anything.

"At KD, what we try to do is give the advice we would give our own kids, and that is, I don't care what anybody else does, we're going to make sure you're competitive, as competitive as you can be. And that includes a test score,” said Dillard.

Dillard offers the following advice for students trying to navigate the changes in testing requirements:

Take challenging courses at school and put the work in to do well.

Invest consistent time outside the classroom in meaningful activities that will develop personal skills and leadership qualities that demonstrate your passions and interests.

Begin exploring colleges early to allow you to develop thoughtful goals for college and beyond.

Work toward competitive test scores to allow you to be the most competitive college applicant possible with the most options.

Bottom line to students and parents thinking about college – be sure to check ahead on the school websites to see what the testing and other requirements are because it could be changing.

The SAT test being taken on Saturday will be taken digitally for the first time ever. No pencils required at the testing sites, just a laptop or tablet.

The revamped test aims to make cheating harder and grading easier. The test will also be one hour shorter than usual.